Defense Secretary to Retire Next Year

Defense Secretary Robert Gates plans to retire before the end of 2011.

"I think that it would be a mistake to wait until January 2012," Gates told Foreign Policy magazine. "It might be hard to find a good person to take the job so late, with just one year to go in the president's current term."

This morning, a Pentagon spokesman confirmed to CNN that the Foreign Policy quotes "accurately reflect the secretary's thoughts."

The impending retirement leaves Gates without a lot of time to implement his plan to cut $100 billion out of the Defense Department's budget.

Update, 3:10 p.m.: A bit of cold water from the Pentagon this afternoon. Geoff Morrell, Gates' press secretary, e-mails Danger Room: "I would remind you all that every time Secretary Gates has seriously considered hanging it up for good, he ultimately has decided to keep serving so my personal advice would be to wait for a real announcement or better yet wait to see what happens next year."